Advanced traveler information system capabilities : human factors research needs : summary report

NHTSA · 1998 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Highway Administration

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Summary

This summary report outlines the human factors research needs for integrating Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) into vehicles, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI). Conducted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Battelle Human Factors Transportation Center, the study addresses the challenge of designing usable in-vehicle safety and driver information technologies that provide manageable data without compromising highway safety. The research was motivated by the need to establish a technical foundation for five candidate system configurations, with this specific report focusing on the ATIS configuration. This configuration combines basic collision warning technologies (such as adaptive cruise control and obstacle detection), basic traveler information devices (including navigation and real-time traffic updates), and driver convenience devices (such as cellular telephones and automated transactions). The goal is to ensure these integrated systems provide clear safety benefits for passenger cars, commercial trucks, and transit vehicles. The methodology involved a preliminary assessment of infrastructure and in-vehicle requirements, a thorough literature review of past research and gaps, and a stakeholder workshop held in December 1997 involving universities, automotive manufacturers, vendors, and contractors. The identified research needs focus on two primary areas: the impact of integrated information systems on general driver performance and the specific design requirements for older drivers. The report emphasizes that the increasing number of older drivers in the United States necessitates special attention to how age-related declines in perceptual abilities and reaction times interact with complex in-vehicle interfaces. The findings identify critical research directions, primarily centered on assessing how integrated systems affect driver attention to the primary driving task. Initial evidence suggests that convenience devices, such as cellular telephones, may present safety-reducing distractions. Consequently, key objectives include reviewing multi-task performance and attention theory, identifying workload demands, and determining the relative priorities of various ATIS information elements. A secondary but critical focus is on older drivers, who perform poorer in "cognitively complex" environments. Specific issues identified include longer glance times to displays, increased variability in steering control, and higher rates of navigation errors among older populations. The research aims to identify the specific information needs and design preferences of older drivers to mitigate these risks. The significance of this work lies in its contribution to the development of design guidelines and tools that support safe and effective IVI integration. By addressing the cognitive complexity introduced by combining collision avoidance, routing, and convenience functions, the research seeks to optimize system design for all drivers, particularly the aging population. The report concludes by outlining specific research directions, including the assessment of ATIS effects on behavior, the identification of user preferences for older drivers, and the development of interface guidelines that balance safety benefits with usability. This framework provides a structured approach for future empirical studies in laboratory and controlled on-road settings to validate these human factors considerations.

Key finding

The integration of ATIS and convenience devices creates a cognitively complex environment that requires specific research to optimize design for driver performance and address the unique limitations of older drivers.

Methodology

review

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• Applied Guidance: design guidelines
• Synthesis & Review: research agenda
• Theoretical Contribution: theory or model